Since debuting not only its new OS, but a new controller along with it, people have been looking at Valve with a raised eyebrow or two. After all, it is a bit...unusual compared to the controllers of the past few console generations. As it's still early and we've only had a few peeks at the controller, judgement is best left 'til we actually try it out, and one developer already has.
Tommy Refenes, designer of the runaway hit Super Meat Boy is the man in question, and shared his opinions on on the controller with Gamasutra. We have the highlights below:
DESCRIPTION
- "The Steam Controller (or whatever it's officially called) is strange. Where your thumbs normally rest when holding a controller, there are just the two little circular track pads just like what you see in the pictures. In the center you have your A,B,X,Y buttons surrounding what I was told would be a touch screen display at some point...The A,B,X,Y buttons surrounding the touch screen seemed to be used more for your standard 'Back"' button configuration. Think of them not as A,B,X,Y but additional buttons that can perform some functionality. You obviously wouldn't play a game with those buttons being your primary action buttons. You use the left and right circle pads as your primary inputs."
- "On top of the controller you have your standard Left/Right Bumpers and Left/Right Triggers, they work and feel as you would expect. On the back of the controller are two additional triggers that you can hit with your fingers naturally by just squeezing your hand but aren't so sensitive that the act of holding the controller depresses the buttons."
FEEL
- "The controller I held was a 3D printed functional prototype. It is thicker than an Xbox 360 controller at the base where the sides of the controller rest in your palms. The weight is about the same. I didn't feel as if the controller was too heavy or too light. I did notice the bulk of the controller, but only as a differentiation from the PS3 controller I've been playing with recently (GTA5) and the 360 controller I use for PC gaming. The bulk didn't bother me."
GAMEPLAY
- "After becoming familiar with the controller I started to play Meat Boy...The configuration they had set up was simple enough. The left circle pad acted as the directional buttons, the right acted as a big giant jump button. The big problem with touch pads/ touch screens is you never know when you are actually over a button or pressing it. Valve has tried to rectify this by having some adjustable haptic feedback fire when you press one of the circle pads. Throughout my play session the haptic feedback helped with the problem, but wasn't enough to solve it."
- "The circle pads were configured so that they could be touched to register input. Having input register without a firm, familiar press feels weird and the reason being is that it was set to both touch AND press. You could make Meat Boy move right by pressing on the pad, but he would also move when my thumb rested on the pad. This naturally didn't happen often, but did happen enough to be noticeable. Once I pointed this out one of the engineers...he went back to his desk and updated the firmware to only react on press. Once this happened the controller felt like a controller. Pressing directional buttons made sense and I felt a greater sense of control."
- "I was able to play Meat Boy the way Meat Boy can be played on an advanced level (and I'm rusty at it)."
- "I played through Spelunky and the controller worked great. As I was playing I was describing to the engineers the twitch movements that go into Spelunky. Anyone that's played it knows what I'm talking about, but to explain further there are often times in Spelunky where you will find yourself in a situation where you will panic and need to compensate."
- "The nubs I mentioned above would have solidified the platforming experience better, but again, those might get thrown in as they approach final hardware. I got to the Ice Caves and then a stupid Skeleton knocked me off a platform to my death...then I attempted a daily run and died immediately...pretty much the standard Spelunky play through."
OVERALL
- "If you were to ask me if I would play games with the Steam Controller...I would say yes. If you were to ask me to choose between Steam Controller and a 360 controller, I would choose 360. Don't take that as slight to the controller though because it's more about the comfort of familiarity over functionality. I would choose a 360 controller because I have several thousand hours experience using it, however if tomorrow all game controllers were wiped off the earth and the only option was the Steam Controller, I don't think this would be a bad thing. In fact, I don't think gaming would miss a beat."
- "I'm excited to see what final hardware feels like because I think with the upcoming iterations of the controller we'll see something that is different, but still feels good."
- "TL;DR; Great Start, needs some improvements, but I could play any game I wanted with it just fine."
